96 Geo Metro P0335 DTC

[bigrobrn]

Hello one and all. Been reading this site for quite some time now and did a lot of research on here prior to me purchasing my car.

The car of discussion is my 96 Metro LSI, 4 door, 5 speed manual, 139800 on the odometer. New motor installed May 2008.

I purchased the car from a fellow firefighter for in May 2008 for $200 and had to invest some money in it getting it right. A new motor was my most costly investment.

1st thing is my car "seems" to be running fine. It idles fine, starts fine, runs fine, etc. The code p0335 popped up about 8 months ago along with a po300. The p0300 has been the most nagging code- general misfire, but the p0335 went away after I replaced the crank position sensor. Well, its back now and has been back about 2 months.

I'm not sure if its the wiring, connection, or what. Weird thing is, I think my car is running fine. I get 40-41 mpg everyday, all day.

Suggestions, opinions, prophecies?

RL

[Johnny Mullet]

According to the Check Engine Light guide..............
Check Engine Light Guide

You are correct. The crank position sensor is the problem, but not the sensor itself. If that engine was "New" or "Rebuilt" or whatever, crawl under the car and see between the engine block and oil pan if there is a visible oil pan gasket. If there is an oil pan gasket installed, you need to drop the pan, remove the gasket, clean the surfaces, and reassemble using RTV silicone only and no gasket. The oil pan gasket is made aftermarket, but not factory. This aftermarket gasket is too thick causing an erratic or lost crank sensor signal.

Good luck!

[bigrobrn]

I just went outside and looked. There is a thick gasket b/t the pan and the block.
Will I run into any problems with the pan sealing to the block using RTV?

I have some ultra copper at home I will use, but I'm wondering if these pans utilize a cork gasket that won't allow RTV to completely seal the gap?

Thanks a bunch.
RL

[Johnny Mullet]

Use simply RTV. The factory never used a gasket. I never used a gasket and done at least 5 rebuilds.

[bigrobrn]

Well, I replaced the aftermarket gasket with Permatex Ultra Black today. It wasn't too hard of a job and it went well. I just wish it would have fixed the persistent P0335 code.

Once I finished, I cleared the code, removed the negative cable from my battery for about an hour. After that I re-connected it, started my car, no check engine light for only about 5 seconds, then it re-appeared.

I read the code and its the same one. P0335.

One strange thing I did notice was that when I initially removed the crank sensor today, there was half of a paper clip sitting right on top of the magnetic part of the sensor. I thought to myself "surely this is my problem, I've got a paperclip in there." But no.

So the things I have done to address my problem so far have been:
Installed new crank sensor
New oil pan gasket using RTV
Removed paper clip inside crank sensor hole

Any other ideas anyone?